Authors Note: In this story Aro did not kill his sister. Werewolves killed her during the Volturi's war with the Romanians. I plan to have this story revolve with the Volturi's strength as a family and a coven.
Chapter 2 - Taken
After blowing her nose for what felt like the hundredth time Castiel rest her head on her desk. The congestion in her sinuses was causing her head to throb painfully, as if a tiny person was bashing a hammer against the inside of her skull.
She had gotten a cold around two weeks previously and had been battling the stupid virus every day. She didn't get sick often, but when she did it was usually bad like this, and it wasn't abnormal for it to take her weeks to recover. But she had a feeling the cold would be letting up very very soon as just that morning she had begun to get her visions again… blurry as they may be.
She didn't like getting sick. She hated when she got colds because when she felt very congested and had bad headaches the visions she had lived with and operated her life around stopped abruptly, and she wouldn't start getting them again until her illness had passed.
Suddenly a warm, familiar, voice sounded from the doorway to her room, causing her to life her head.
"Hey sickie. I bought you some soup," Her best friend Trent smiled at her, indicating to the paper bowl he had balanced on his palm, the word 'Panera' printed in green lettering on the side.
She just groaned at him, not really feeling that up for eating but knowing he wouldn't leave until she finished the soup he bought. He was correct in his nonverbal assumption that she hadn't eaten very much recently – because that's the only reason he would have gone out and bought back food for her without her asking – and he would undoubtedly be a pain in the ass until she ate. "Shouldn't you knock before entering someone's home?"
He rolled his eyes at her, pushing his shaggy dirty-blonde hair from his eyes as he set the steaming bowl of soup in front of her on the desk. He had basically become a permanent resident at her home over the last six months after he moved out of his apartment due to the irritating new roommates he had gotten when his original roommate from high school had moved out. He had ended his lease early and had issues finding another open apartment in the small town within budget, so Castiel's father had offered him the guest room free of charge since he was basically family.
"I think the proper response is "Thank you, you beautiful hunk of a man for bringing me and my dripping orifices food."" He smirked when Castiel went to throw her stapler at him and missed by a good two feet, causing it to go through the open doorway and land in the hall.
Castiel sighed as she stared at the stapler on the floor and shrugged as she decided to nurse her wounded pride and refuse to get up and get it. "Thanks for the soup though, I really do appreciate it."
Trent laughed before looking around her room as she began to push the noodles around the bowl with her spoon. It was as clean as always: her bed was made, her shoes were stacked neatly on the shoe rack under the window, her dresser had tomorrow's outfit folded on top of it and her desk had only her laptop and sketchbook set on it, both of which she had haphazardly pushed away when he set the soup down. The only thing out of place was her trashcan, which was overflowing with tissues next to her nightstand instead of next to the desk where she usually had it.
"I don't know how you can take the time to keep your room this clean. When I'm sick it looks like a tornado hit." he flopped backwards onto her bed while she started eating her soup and cringed as the springs made an unhealthy grinding noise. She really needed a new mattress.
"It gets boring being stuck inside all day," she said with a shrug after a scarfing down a few mouthfuls of the scalding soup. She hadn't realized she had been so hungry. "And dad had been so busy at the firehouse this week since the pipe burst at the county firehouse two towns over. I haven't seen him in almost three days he's been working so many extra shifts."
Trent's expression was sympathetic as he noticed how much this upset her, "Well he is fire chief," he reasoned, "This stuff just kind of falls on him ya know? Wasn't he supposed to be home early tonight?"
Wheeling around in her desk chair, Castiel turned to look at her best friend, "He was," she verified, "But his old Marine buddies are back in town today and he called to tell me he's meeting them at the bar after work and not to wait up for him."
Trent thought hard for a moment, gauging her expression as he contemplated what to do. Originally he had planned to pick up an extra shift at the body shop where he worked part time, but he could see that his best friend was a bit down in the dumps after being cooped up in the house for days on end with no one to really talk to as he himself had been busy with work and school.
"Hey how about I go stop at the ACME around the corner and get some ice cream or something?" He suggested, trying to cheer her up, "I can also grab a Red Box movie for us to watch tonight. I was thinking comedy, but we can go the horror movie route if you're up for it?"
Castiel smiled at him. Trent wasn't really a big fan of horror movies, so it was nice of him to give the option since it was one of her favorite genres. "That would be awesome, can you grab some orange juice too? Maybe if I get some more Vitamin C in my system I'll be able to breathe out of my nose by tomorrow."
She stood when he nodded his affirmation of her words and gave him a quick thank you hug before walking him to the front door.
He smirked down at her as they walked along the small path to the driveway where Trent had parked his truck, before uttering in a teasing tone, "Yeah yeah you won't be able to convince me that the reason for wanting to get better is anything more than the desire to have your freaky visions again."
His comment would have been met with an elbow to the ribs if he didn't dodge her arm.
"Yeah well, I hate flying blind. I'm so used to having some kind of advanced notice to basically… well… everything in my life that getting sick and losing that ability kind of sucks. How would you feel if you lost the ability to use your left arm or something when you get sick?"
Trent ruffled her hair as he unlocked the door to the cab and climbed into the driver's seat before leaning out of the open window so they could finish talking.
"You know I'm only teasing you Cassy-frass," He smirked when she scowled at the nickname and fixed her hair, "I'll see you in like… fifteen minutes tops."
He started up the truck while Castiel head back into the house, shutting and locking the door behind her before heading down the hall to the bathroom. Flicking on the bright light mounted over the mirror above the sink, she studied her reflection.
Her dark red hair fell down to her waist in perfect heavy ringlets – something that was really extremely impressive since it had been like… four days since she last brushed her hair – and her already pale skin looked even whiter than usual as the freckles that were scattered across her nose and cheeks seem to have lost some pigment during the days of her illness.
Her nose, however, was bright red from the constant rubbing and nose blowing she had been doing over the last few days. And her short stature looked even smaller than usual due to the baggy sweats and t-shirt she was wearing, the T-shirts being one of her dads old firehouse shirts that no longer fit him after he started working out again so it was nearly two sizes too big.
Figuring that she would feel a little better if she at least dressed like she wasn't sick she head back to her room and changed into some dark blue jeans and a warm crème colored sweater. She had hardly put back on her tattered purple sneakers when she heard a low knock sounding at the door.
She froze momentarily, surprised by the sound since she was used to having some… forewarning of visitors. It was already dark outside so there was really no explanation as to why someone was knocking on the door at this hour.
Cautiously peaking out the door to her room – as the door to her room had a direct line of sight to the front door – she noticed the faded leather wallet sitting on the kitchen counter by the door.
Of course, she sighed mentally, Trent would forget his wallet
Without a further thought she traveled down the hall, snatching the wallet off the counter as she went and unlocking the door without glancing up it. She pulled the door open and held the item out without hesitation.
Over the years, her visions had made her almost foolishly comfortable in the decisions she made. There was never a reason to think about the pros and cons of her choices when she already knew the outcome of the things she decided to do. So she didn't even think about what could be lurking outside in the darkness of night, not even remembering that at this moment in time her visions were not present to guide her, so she would never know if the choice she made was the wrong one.
And opening the door… was certainly the wrong decision now.
"As much as we appreciate the hand-out," A deep unfamiliar voice fell upon her ears, the tone of it teasing, "We don't really need any money."
She froze, her eyes snapping up to meet the striking, scarlet eyes of the vampires currently at the door.
Instinctively, she began to back away. Her eyes widening in fright as she took in the massive figure of the larger vampire standing a step back from the one with the tousled hair – the one who had obviously made the teasing jab due to his smirk.
Castiel had been caught completely off guard and she hated it. What was more was the fact that she had no idea who these two vampires were. Going down her mental checklist for signs of danger – signs suck as black eyes or a tense, coiled posture – she was given a little relief upon noticing the two at the door didn't look hungry or angry. But it was relief that didn't last long for moments later the lean vampire entered the room with his hulking companion reaching out to place his palm against the door and force it further open.
"W-Who're you?" She stuttered, tripping a little bit over her feet as she continued walking backward.
The big one smirked.
"I thought they said the human we were getting was psychic Demetri," he teased, eyes flashing wickedly as he shut the door behind him, effectively trapping Castiel in with them, "Are you sure we found the right house?"
The lean one – Demetri – rolled his eyes, but he still did not miss the expression of horror on Castiel's face when Felix said the word "psychic". This was all the conformation Felix needed that she was indeed the right girl… not that he thought she wasn't the one they were looking for.
"Of course, Felix," Demetri said in a bored tone, calling Felix's jest, "And while I can't answer why she doesn't know who we are… you can see in her eyes that she knows what we are."
"And what we are-," Demetri directed his gaze back at the startled human girl they were slowly stalking backwards down the hall, "-are members of the Volturi guard. We were sent to retrieve you for trial."
Castiel stopped moving, causing the two men to halt as well. She had heard of the Volturi. Every single one of the vampires she knew had warned her about them. From what she had been told she knew the Volturi were the rulers of the vampire race, the rulers of the supernatural world, and they upheld the laws of secrecy of their kind. And the very most important law there was, was that their world, their species, could not be exposed to a human. If a human was to be let in on the secret the human either had to be changed, or the threat they posed to the secret must be silenced. Permanently.
Had one of her friends turned her in? Or had the Volturi found out about her somehow and now one of her friends was in danger because of her knowledge? She knew the punishment for such treason… was severe.
Thinking hard, Castiel debated what she could do. Perhaps she could distract them and somehow escape out the window in her bedroom? She was on the first floor so it wouldn't be more than a few-foot drop to the ground. Maybe, if she got outside and caused enough of a scene, they would run off? Or if she could just stall them long enough until Trent got back…
But she squashed that thought the moment it entered her head, what if they just killed Trent for bearing witness to them being here?
"Demetri," The deep voice of Felix broke the silence, "Let's be done with this. I can hear the girl's friend returning."
Realizing she was officially out of time to do anything but act, Castiel turned on her heal and bolted into her room, slamming the door shut behind her with a loud bang. She ran quickly over to the window, which she had cracked open hours before to bring some fresh air into her room, and hardly had time to force it the rest of the way up and clamber through the frame before a cold hand locked like a vice around her ankle and yanked her back into the room.
She hit the floor first, effectively knocking the wind out of her before the giant Felix hauled her up against him, his arms wrapped around her torso pinning her arms to her sides and her back to his front.
Struggling, she kicked her legs out, knocking her lamp off her bedside table and causing it to shatter against the floor. The room became shrouded in darkness as Felix swung her form around, toward the open bedroom door, while trying to grab her legs to hold her still. He didn't manage to grab her fast enough however, and she kicked her mirror effectively causing a downpour of broken mirror shards on her legs and across the carpet.
"Fuck!" Felix growled. He didn't think that a hundred-pound human girl could possibly put up this kind of fight! She seemed to have gotten her breath back as well, for only a moment later she started to scream at the top of her lungs. Her yell was hoarse though, whether it was because of the sickness he could smell in her blood or because she was unaccustomed to screaming, he didn't know.
Impatiently he slapped a hand over her mouth and nose, muffling her yells as she continued to kick, looking over at his companion.
Demetri was leaning against the doorjamb, with blue latex gloves on his hands as he filled a syringe with the contents of a small glass bottle he had previously stored in his pocket.
Felix's look was questioning as Demetri hid the empty bottle away in the interior of his coat and drifted toward him as he held the still struggling girl.
"I picked this up from Arkos before we left the castle," he explained, "he assured me this would be enough to help her sleep for the trip back to Italy so she wouldn't be panicking the entire time. Now hold her as still as you can."
Castiel, who had been so distracted struggling against Felix she barely had time to register his words, began to thrash so hard as Demetri approached her that Felix tightened his grip on her to the point of pain.
She could feel hot tears running from her eyes, trying to plead with them not to do this as her thrashing amounted to nothing, but her voice was still muffled from Felix's hand.
Demetri sighed and tore the sleeve to her sweater near her upper arm with one fluid motion, sticking her with the needle and pressing the plunger down in the next second. The effect the tranquilizer was fast, and her body relaxed within a minute as she continued to weep into Felix's hand, who had begun shushing her and stroking her hair with an uncomfortable look on his face.
Not even a full two minutes had passed before Castiel was unconscious, and Felix waited for Demetri to duck out the window before passing Castiel to him and squeezing his body through afterwards. Once out on the lawn beside the house Demetri passed Castiel back to Felix – who was much more suited to carrying due to his vast size – and they launched themselves into the surrounding forest behind her home and the other homes on this side of the road.
As they ran through the brush, dodging large oak and pine trees, Demetri and Felix knew they would be long gone before any search would start for Castiel.
"I don't know about you," Felix said lowly as they ran, trying to ignore the guilty feeling that bubbled up inside of him every time he glance down at the human in his arms, "But I think that that goes on my list of the top ten most fucked up things I have done this century."
Demetri paused before nodding curtly, though he disagreed with Felix's statement.
He felt this probably deserved a place on the list of the top ten worst things he had done in the last ten centuries. He was used to hunting people down and dragging them back to Volterra, sometimes dragging his prey kicking and screaming the whole way back, but he was not used to bringing a human back. Especially not a young human girl who they had very obviously terrified half to death by drugging and kidnapping her.
He knew that he and Felix would have to make it up to her at some point during their coming years on the guard together.
"Aro I think you should seriously reconsider your decision."
Back in Volterra, the kings were sitting on the couches in front of the roaring fire in Aro's study. Sulpicia was on her husband's lap while Caius had his arm wrapped around Athenadora, holding her snugly against his side. It was Marcus who had spoken, and he was standing, facing the fire with his back to them.
Marcus had been focusing on his "bond sight" for the last hour, observing the multi-colored bond-strands moving and humming among his family. He couldn't help but think of how blessed he was to be part of a coven who cared as strongly for each other as they did.
Over the millennia the vampires they ruled over had become convinced that the Volturi powerhouse was one whose stability was built on a lust for power rather than actual love for one another. These vampires were so very wrong. The bonds between he and his siblings were as strong as familia bonds could possibly get, which was saying a lot since a vampire's range of emotion were a thousand times that of a human's.
He had watched the vibrant metallic colored bonds that linked mates hum between his brothers and their wives. Their bonds were warm and solid, and seeing them left an ache in his heart as he remembered Didyme and mourned for the loss of his own bond. But the sight of his brother's bonds to their mates also left a slight sting as his mating bond to Didyme was only half that of his family's and he had been mourning his loss for over three thousand years.
"Ah brother," Aro sighed, his voice taking on the same persuasive edge he always used when he wanted something, "You must consider the risk the human poses. We cannot have another situation like Isabella Swan, secrecy breaches like this cannot just be ignored."
What Aro couldn't understand, what he really couldn't place his finger on, was what exactly had changed in the last couple weeks that had caused his brother to become so… animated. Marcus had done a complete one-eighty, having gone from not caring about anything at all to suddenly entertaining conversation.
Like he was doing right now, arguing against the unanimous decision they had all come to together about bringing the human in for trial.
"It is not that I am against upholding the law brother. But kidnapping a young girl from her home? What about the potential search that will arise from her going missing? Can we just consider the fact that-,"
"Marcus," Caius interrupted, feeling slightly unsettled over how emotional his brother suddenly was. Marcus had not cared about anything since Didyme's passing during the war. "I don't understand what has gotten into you! Not that we aren't… ecstatic that you are err… speaking to us again," he shared a sideways glance with Aro, "But you must consider that the human might come willingly and if she does then there will not be a search! The only other option for the girl is death."
"And if she doesn't come willingly perhaps death would be the better option? Rather than causing both the human pain and those she knows excess turmoil." Marcus bit back before turning to face his brothers, "Perhaps we should consider an alternative method of-,"
He was interrupted this time by the vibration of Aro's phone. And Aro gave him an apologetic look before removing his phone from his pocket and checking the caller ID.
He slid his finger across the touch screen device to answer the call, but there was no need to hold it up to his ear. Their hearing was superior enough that he could have left it in his pocket and spoken through the fabric and no one would have an issue hearing the conversation.
"Demetri." Aro greeted, lazily turning the phone over and over in his fingers, "I hope all is well?"
"Everything is fine Master," The guard's voice echoed through the phone while Athenadora stood from her place at Caius' side to stand by Marcus, gently resting her hand against his arm and giving him a soft smile of not quite understanding, but of tenderness.
Athenadora and Marcus got along very well. Both of them had more compassionate natures than the rest of their family and therefore were viewed as the humanitarians of the group. She didn't understand why he was having an outburst of emotion about someone whom he had never met, but she certainly did understand his reasoning for being against forcing the young psychic here.
"We have the human," Demetri cleared his throat unnecessarily, hinting at obvious discomfort over something unknown, "However she did not come willingly. She put up a decent fight against Felix and I… had to sedate her-," All eyes were on Marcus then as he let out a saddened sigh before sitting in one of the chairs closest to the fire, letting his head fall into his hands and rubbing his face.
Athenadora continued to stand beside him loyally, her hand on his shoulder, while Caius giving her a grateful smile for comforting their brother. Aro's expression was radiating disapproval as he registered what Demetri had said, but he didn't interrupt him as he continued, "She broke multiple things in her room. We did not have time to clean up the mess as a friend of hers was returning to the home. There will undoubtedly be a report, but we are sure we did not leave any traces."
Aro nodded solemnly, "And I take it you are leaving for Volterra now?"
"Yes Master," Demetri affirmed, "Felix has just entered the jet with Castiel. She should remain asleep until we arrive in Volterra around 8 o'clock."
And with a quick farewell to the young guard, Aro ended the call, watching his brother lift his head from his hands and lean back while shutting his eyes and looking like the conversation on the phone had aged him a hundred more years.
It was silent for a few moments with the only sound being when Athenadora moved to sit with Caius again. Marcus did not bother to open his eyes or move at all when he spoke next.
"There is no point in asking why our methods with this human are bothering me to this extent for I do not know. But I am open to a debate."
Aro, Caius, and their wives smiled. Perhaps a debate with one another was just was they needed to take the depressing edge of this conversation.
Revised January 18th, 2021
(10 Pages, 4,291 Words)
